Part III (Secunda Secundae) Part 30 (2/2)
Reply Obj. 1: The fear which is a beginning of love is servile fear, which is the herald of charity, just as the bristle introduces the thread, as Augustine states (Tract. ix in Ep. i Joan.). Or else, if it be referred to initial fear, this is said to be the beginning of love, not absolutely, but relatively to the state of perfect charity.
Reply Obj. 2: Initial fear does not dread punishment as its proper object, but as having something of servile fear connected with it: for this servile fear, as to its substance, remains indeed, with charity, its servility being cast aside; whereas its act remains with imperfect charity in the man who is moved to perform good actions not only through love of justice, but also through fear of punishment, though this same act ceases in the man who has perfect charity, which ”casteth out fear,” according to 1 John 4:18.
Reply Obj. 3: Initial fear is a mean between servile and filial fear, not as between two things of the same genus, but as the imperfect is a mean between a perfect being and a non-being, as stated in _Metaph._ ii, for it is the same substantially as the perfect being, while it differs altogether from non-being.
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NINTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 19, Art. 9]
Whether Fear Is a Gift of the Holy Ghost?
Objection 1: It would seem that fear is not a gift of the Holy Ghost.
For no gift of the Holy Ghost is opposed to a virtue, which is also from the Holy Ghost; else the Holy Ghost would be in opposition to Himself. Now fear is opposed to hope, which is a virtue. Therefore fear is not a gift of the Holy Ghost.
Obj. 2: Further, it is proper to a theological virtue to have G.o.d for its object. But fear has G.o.d for its object, in so far as G.o.d is feared. Therefore fear is not a gift, but a theological virtue.
Obj. 3: Further, fear arises from love. But love is reckoned a theological virtue. Therefore fear also is a theological virtue, being connected with the same matter, as it were.
Obj. 4: Further, Gregory says (Moral. ii, 49) that ”fear is bestowed as a remedy against pride.” But the virtue of humility is opposed to pride. Therefore again, fear is a kind of virtue.
Obj. 5: Further, the gifts are more perfect than the virtues, since they are bestowed in support of the virtues as Gregory says (Moral.
ii, 49). Now hope is more perfect than fear, since hope regards good, while fear regards evil. Since, then, hope is a virtue, it should not be said that fear is a gift.
_On the contrary,_ The fear of the Lord is numbered among the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost (Isa. 11:3).
_I answer that,_ Fear is of several kinds, as stated above (A. 2).
Now it is not ”human fear,” according to Augustine (De Gratia et Lib.
Arb. xviii), ”that is a gift of G.o.d”--for it was by this fear that Peter denied Christ--but that fear of which it was said (Matt.
10:28): ”Fear Him that can destroy both soul and body into h.e.l.l.”
Again servile fear is not to be reckoned among the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, though it is from Him, because according to Augustine (De Nat. et Grat. lvii) it is compatible with the will to sin: whereas the gifts of the Holy Ghost are incompatible with the will to sin, as they are inseparable from charity, as stated above (I-II, Q. 68, A.
5).
It follows, therefore, that the fear of G.o.d, which is numbered among the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, is filial or chaste fear. For it was stated above (I-II, Q. 68, AA. 1, 3) that the gifts of the Holy Ghost are certain habitual perfections of the soul's powers, whereby these are rendered amenable to the motion of the Holy Ghost, just as, by the moral virtues, the appet.i.tive powers are rendered amenable to the motion of reason. Now for a thing to be amenable to the motion of a certain mover, the first condition required is that it be a non-resistant subject of that mover, because resistance of the movable subject to the mover hinders the movement. This is what filial or chaste fear does, since thereby we revere G.o.d and avoid separating ourselves from Him. Hence, according to Augustine (De Serm. Dom. in Monte i, 4) filial fear holds the first place, as it were, among the gifts of the Holy Ghost, in the ascending order, and the last place, in the descending order.
Reply Obj. 1: Filial fear is not opposed to the virtue of hope: since thereby we fear, not that we may fail of what we hope to obtain by G.o.d's help, but lest we withdraw ourselves from this help. Wherefore filial fear and hope cling together, and perfect one another.
Reply Obj. 2: The proper and princ.i.p.al object of fear is the evil shunned, and in this way, as stated above (A. 1), G.o.d cannot be an object of fear. Yet He is, in this way, the object of hope and the other theological virtues, since, by the virtue of hope, we trust in G.o.d's help, not only to obtain any other goods, but, chiefly, to obtain G.o.d Himself, as the princ.i.p.al good. The same evidently applies to the other theological virtues.
Reply Obj. 3: From the fact that love is the origin of fear, it does not follow that the fear of G.o.d is not a distinct habit from charity which is the love of G.o.d, since love is the origin of all the emotions, and yet we are perfected by different habits in respect of different emotions. Yet love is more of a virtue than fear is, because love regards good, to which virtue is princ.i.p.ally directed by reason of its own nature, as was shown above (I-II, Q. 55, AA. 3, 4); for which reason hope is also reckoned as a virtue; whereas fear princ.i.p.ally regards evil, the avoidance of which it denotes, wherefore it is something less than a theological virtue.
Reply Obj. 4: According to Ecclus. 10:14, ”the beginning of the pride of man is to fall off from G.o.d,” that is to refuse submission to G.o.d, and this is opposed to filial fear, which reveres G.o.d. Thus fear cuts off the source of pride for which reason it is bestowed as a remedy against pride. Yet it does not follow that it is the same as the virtue of humility, but that it is its origin. For the gifts of the Holy Ghost are the origin of the intellectual and moral virtues, as stated above (I-II, Q. 68, A. 4), while the theological virtues are the origin of the gifts, as stated above (I-II, Q. 69, A. 4, ad 3).
This suffices for the Reply to the Fifth Objection.
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TENTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 19, Art. 10]
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